


Double Exposure

by Roarsthedandelion



Series: See Right Through Me [2]
Category: Purple Hyacinth - Ephemerys & Sophism (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Kinda, Tags and Warnings May Change, literally any other tags would be major spoilers for SRTM
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:40:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27038857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roarsthedandelion/pseuds/Roarsthedandelion
Summary: A bunch of one shots/ scenes from Lauren and Kieran's prior lives.
Relationships: Lauren Sinclair/Kieran White
Series: See Right Through Me [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973428
Comments: 10
Kudos: 39





	1. Hymn of the Cherubim (Tchaikovsky)/ Corners of the Earth (Odesza)

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to let me know if you all want to see certain flashbacks expanded. I'll do what I can so long as it doesn't give away the ending to SRTM. Chapter titles are taken from the songs I was listening to while writing. 
> 
> In any case, while I hem and haw over comma placement on ch 4, I thought I'd post some of the stuff I've drafted to fit into the timeline. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

“It’s not going to collapse, Lauren, honestly.” Kieran chided. “Come in before someone sees you.”

The ruins of the church still stood proudly, as if in defiance of decay and neglect. Yes, here was perfect. Vines grew through the stone, reaching ever higher like souls clamored for something holy, always just out of reach. She’d love the symbolism of it, just like the language of flowers. 

“What did you want to show me?” Lauren called, climbing over a large chunk of the roof to clear the steps. 

He grinned. “Just this.”

“And we had to come this late because…”

They dodged the beams of light, making their way further into the chapel. Old habits die hard. But then, he had less to worry about. To everyone but her, he was no longer alive. “You’re ruining the surprise, Detective.”

“My apologies, Subordinate.”

Kieran laughed and held out his hand, pulling them both onto the dais. They turned, and he pointed to where the gaps in the roof framed the moon, full in its glory. “I wanted you to see this.”

“I think I’ve seen the moon before.”

“Have patience!” He checked his pocket watch. “We’re a little early, anyway.”

She glared at him. Of course she was impatient. She always wanted at the bottom of things, worried at problems until it came loose in her hands, and he loved that about her. But smiling would only make her more impatient, and as it was, the Earth and the Moon were busy aligning themselves so that for one brief moment, they could be in tandem. 

“I didn’t notice any clouds, did you? It’s getting darker.”

He whispered, leaning in. “It’s an eclipse tonight, mo ghra. The only one we’ll get to see this year.”

What was the saying--we are only truly honest in the dark? Fitting. He could feel everything constrict in his chest, not with nervousness about what he would undertake, but with anticipation of its finality. It was like this before a kill, before making his first deal with her, and again, now. For once, though, the thought didn’t fill him with desperation. This was-- it could only be-- something inevitable. 

Lauren turned to him, eyes still questioning. “I haven’t seen one before, just drawings and prints. Is this the surprise?”

“Partly. I thought it would be fitting.”

“Do go on,” Lauren drawled.

He sighed, reaching for her so that they faced each other. If there was any guess as to why she pulled the earnestness from his bones, he would claim it was her ability. That would be the simplest answer. But the true one would be that he would want this, anyway. Under any circumstances, really. He wants to stand next to her, to hold on to her, to care for her far longer than either their original agreement or this new and tangled one called for. 

“As things are, I can’t make promises that bear any real weight. If things-- if they were different, we could be in a different church at a different hour. And I would say this in front of the world. But I promise you, anyway, Lauren Sinclair, to put you above all others, in whatever darkness we may find before us, in whatever happiness we can devise. I offer you myself and my life.”

She tried to hide her mouth behind her hands. Her eyes were wet. “I only want this church... and this life. I-- how did you put it?”

He laughed, catching her hands and kissing them, first one and then the other. This expression was new. He was certain he wanted more of it. “I promise you,--”

“--I promise you--”

“Lauren Sinclair.”

“Kieran White.”

“To put you above all others.”

“To put you above all others.”

“In whatever darkness we may find.”

“In whatever darkness we may find.”

“In whatever happiness we can devise--” they said in unison, and the shock of it almost broke the solemnity of the exchange. But they were in the whole and loving dark. As above, so below. 

“I offer you myself and my life,” Lauren said finally. Her hand found his cheek, and she pressed the softest kiss against his lips. “There, it’s as official as it gets.”

Kieran looked up to the sky again, to watch the edge of the Moon creep back into view. “I think so, too.”


	2. Lovefool (twocolors cover)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if i didn't say that i've been listening to the following for maybe 8 hours straight, i would be lying but also remiss because i may have grown up with the original, but this is a damn good cover ((what is up with great 90s/00s covers lately? Kamauu's "Hey Ya" just kills me)).
> 
> Anyway, here's a link to the retro rabbit hole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp7C833_TFA&t=989s
> 
> Enjoy!

Kieran looked up at her from where he’d landed, the moon behind her blessing everything with a peaceful glow. 

“Falling for me this time around?” Lauren asked, bending to offer him a hand. She thought he would have batted it away out of pride, but he took it instead, letting her pull him to his feet. His touch lingered.

“What would you do if I said yes?” he teased. 

“If you’re that curious, well… you know what that does to cats.”

“Maybe you should remind me. I seem to remember the saying having something to do with ‘satisfaction’.” He practically purred the last word, and she straightened, too conscious of his proximity. 

“And you call yourself a gentleman.” Resolving not to let him rattle her, she turned away and started walking back toward the street. When Kieran caught up to her, he was grinning. 

The nights in Ardhalis were beginning to become sharp with cold. Winter would soon be upon them. How many months had they been doing this? How many more would this take? After stopping the bombing, watching the 7th Apostles' forces fall apart, their work had become murkier. At once, they were pulled in a million directions and none at all. 

Sometimes, it needed just one more piece of information for everything to fall into place. 

Lauren pulled at the collar of her coat to keep the wind out and wished she’d remembered a scarf. But the chill that ran up her spine just then was not from cold. “No death threats this time, officer? Have you finally crossed the final threshold?”

“And are you unmasked?” Lauren quipped. “Or should I expect falling chandeliers whenever I’m indoors?”

The glint in his eyes would have been dangerous if not for his shaking hands. “Am I?”

“What?”

“Am I unmasked, Lauren?” And how could she answer that honestly? She’d been too open when he’d nearly drowned, but she’d said the closest she’d ever said to ‘i love you’ and he’d said ‘thanks’. Her cards were staying close to her chest now, where they belonged. 

He could be so charming when he was like this, though. The act he put on, the bitter sarcasm wore on her more now that she knew that this part of him existed, soft and foolishly sincere. “You’d have to tell me what your mask is and what’s your face.”

His smile faltered, and he stepped away. “You can’t tell,” he whispered, low enough to be meant only for himself. Then louder, “We should hurry back. I wouldn’t want to give your uncle any more reason to hate me before his visit to the archives.”

“He’s visiting officially?”

“Not really. Hermann said it’s for every precinct, but my contacts tell me that it’s really just ours that’s under scrutiny.” He huffed a laugh that sounded more like a punch to the gut. “I’ll hazard a guess that it’s more about you and less about alphabetizing.”

“You’ll have to be on your best behavior--” he gave her a look of mock indignation-- “because I’m sure he and Dakan are in on this together, and I really don’t look forward to that conversation.”

“I can imagine.” Kieran clasped his hands beneath his chin and adopted a childish, pleading tone. “But Uncle! I love him!” He batted his eyelashes in a way that was supposed to look innocent but only managed to look like he had something in his eye. “How am I supposed to go on without him?!”

“Have you been practicing that in the mirror?” Lauren laughed, and Kieran straightened back into his normal stance.

“How would you phrase it, then?”

Lifting the back of her hand to rest against her forehead in a mock swoon, she gasped, “Oh, my dear butler! My sweet, handsome butler! Wherefore art thou, Butler?”

As she continued, Kieran had to grab his knees to stay upright. Laughing would have him on the concrete, and he was already so sore he may not get up again without help. “Why couldn’t we have been simpler people?”

Lauren turned to him. “I think we would’ve been bored senseless.”

“Maybe,” he conceded finally. 

“Tell me about this simpler life anyway.” The bridge was up ahead. It was where this all well and truly started, and she held some fondness for it that she refused to name. Below it, the river was low and silent. She’d thought of what it would feel like to jump head first into that water. Would it feel like this, now?

“Here’s a story for you-- ‘Sinclair heiress runs off with the bastard of the Marquess of Curraghmore.’” Kieran waved his hand across the sky as if it would paint the headline in the air before them. 

“How did they meet?” she asked.

Kieran, like a ghost from her memory, lept up onto the bridge railing and grasped the light pole for balance. “Chance, maybe. Just crossing paths. But her debut! She could put the queen to shame. How could he not whisk her away?”

Now standing below him, she murmured,“How would she know he wasn’t after her money or her looks? Is his love so superficial?”

“No. They ran away directly. Left all their letters behind.” He bent down, closing the distance between them, whispering, “He loves every part of her. Her wit. Her laugh. Her kindness and sense of justice.”

“What do her letters say?”

“Tell me.”

She looked away to pretend to think, and he took the time to slide off the railing before pulling at her sleeve. “I mean it, Lauren. Tell me.”

She said it haltingly, like these precious secrets were being pulled from her one by one. “He’s gentle. He’s clever. He’s in her corner, even when she doubts him.”

Kieran’s breath was warm against her face. His eyes are dark and so, so close. “They say he is a monster.” 

“He is just a man.”

“Isn’t that naïve?”  There. That bitterness, she thought. 

“Will you hurt me again?” She didn’t fear it any more. Maybe she should, but after their first clash with Soleil, it wasn’t something she could picture any longer. He’d offered himself up to protect her. He’d brokered the deal, spared her closest friends, gotten her to safety. If he said he wouldn’t, she’d believe him.

“Never.” 

“Then how can it be naïve?”

“Lauren, I--” he stopped himself. “Tell me--” he stopped himself again. She would think he was panicking, eyes flitting between hers, her lips, her hand that had stopped just short of his. 

“How does the story end?”

Just before dawn, Lauren slipped through the front door, hoping no one was awake. Her cheeks were red, but not from the cold, and she was glad that today was her day off. She couldn’t stop smiling if she tried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i could go into like a full powerpoint presentation on this, but my working theory is that Kieran has a lot of the opinions he does in canon because he has a foot in both worlds, i.e. a bastard. And since Kieran is an Irish name and Ardhalis draws a lot of parallels with London (Greychapel being Whitechapel, home to Jack the Ripper, etc.), I'm having a lot of fun making up a salacious backstory for poor Kiki. 😈
> 
> Tell me all your wild theories! Canon-wise, SRTM-wise, i'd love to hear it.


End file.
